


Waikiki: Another Take

by Legal_Assassin



Series: ShuHaru Week 2020 [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Hawaii, Ren and Haru go on a kinda date, Shuharu Week, beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24598570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legal_Assassin/pseuds/Legal_Assassin
Summary: As Ren steps onto the beach alone, he sees the fluffy-haired girl from yesterday.
Relationships: Okumura Haru/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: ShuHaru Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1778155
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37
Collections: Shuharu Week 2k19 + 2k20





	Waikiki: Another Take

**Author's Note:**

> ShuHaru Week Day 1: Beach
> 
> I know someone else did a "what if Joker went with Haru on the Hawaii trip," but I wanted to give it a try, too.
> 
> My apologies for the messy end product. One of my finger's got injured a few days ago, so typing is a bit more challenging now. Hopefully I can clean it up a bit more later once I've recovered.

Once Ren got back to his hotel room and away from prying eyes, he checked his phone. The message wasn’t from Futaba and had nothing to do with the Phantom Thieves; it was from Hifumi, asking him if he wanted to walk with her on the beach. Before he could respond, she sent another text letting him know that something had come up on her end and she wouldn’t be able to make it. And after that came one from Ryuji asking if Ren would be joining him and the guys to hook up with girls.

Ren sighed and put his phone away. Ryuji was a great friend who could always be trusted to have his back, but spending the last day in Hawaii in what would likely be a repeat of their escapades on Miura Beach didn’t appeal to him at all. It was a shame Hifumi was busy; he hadn’t seen her with all the excitement regarding the Phantom Thieves’ rising popularity and it would be nice to catch up with his shogi buddy. Maybe Ann or Makoto was free?

A couple texts later and that idea was nixed. The girls were hanging out together. Ren couldn’t begrudge them for that; ever since Kaneshiro, the two were incredibly close, probably owing to being one of Ann’s few female friends outside of Shiho and the first girl her age Makoto could relate to.

Still, that left Ren either on his own or joining Ryuji on his ill-fated venture. ‘On my own it is,’ Ren thought, changing into his swim trunks and heading out of the hotel to Waikiki Beach.

As he stepped onto the sand, he saw someone familiar: the fluffy-haired girl he, Ryuji, and Yusuke had encountered yesterday. She had changed out of her school uniform and was wearing a swimsuit that resembled a blue and white polkadot sundress and a wide-brimmed hat. It suited her well and Ren fought to keep from ogling her exposed legs.

The girl was looking at her phone with a frown and her eyebrows were furrowed. Her expression sparked Ren’s instinct to step in and help, so he approached and asked “Is something wrong?”

“Oh!” She gasped and looked over at him. “I’m sorry! You caught me off-guard!” She put her phone away. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“That’s my line,” Ren said. “You looked upset.”

The girl averted her gaze. “It’s nothing. Just personal things,” she said, her voice sounding drained. “I was just hoping to get my mind off of them on this trip, but I keep dwelling.”

“...would you like to join me on the beach?” Ren asked before he lost his nerve.

She looked up at him, red coloring her cheeks. “O-On a date?!” She stammered. “But I hardly know you!”

Ren held his hands up. “Not a date. My friends are doing their own things, so I was just going to hang out on the beach by myself. I won’t object to some company, though.”

“Oh…” The girl looked at him with a soft expression. “I’m sorry that you’re alone.” 

Ren blinked. He had been the one to approach her with the intent to help however he could, and yet she was the one who was showing concern.

“I don’t know if my father would approve, though…” She turned her gaze down and bit her lip. “He’s particular about who I associate with, and I don’t know anything about you.”

“I mean… he’s not here, so he won’t have to know…” Ren said. “But if you don’t want to, I won’t force you.”

The girl thought for a moment, then met his eyes directly. Gone was the trouble in her eyes; in their place was a spark of rebellion. “Alright,” the girl said in a firm voice. “Let’s go!”

Ren smiled. “Okay, then. What do you want to do first?” He remembered that they didn’t know each other and added. “I’m Ren, by the way.”

“My name is Haru.” She was smiling now. It was like a ray of sunshine had broken through a cloudy sky. “Why don’t we get food first? There’s something I’ve been meaning to try. How adventurous are you?”

“Anything food sounds good.” Ren smiled back. “Lead the way.”

He followed Haru to a food truck selling garlic shrimp, a Hawaiian specialty. They had a brief chat with the owner about the Phantom Thieves before he gave them both extra portions of shrimp.

“My, they’re quite pungent,” Haru commented before taking the plate Ren offered them. “I can’t wait to dig in.”

“You like strong flavors, then?” Ren asked, taking a bite. The shrimp tasted mostly of garlic and butter, but it was balanced out by the sweet coconut rice on the side.

“Yes. I’ve always been drawn to more assertive tastes.”

The two of them fell into silence as they ate while looking over the ocean. Despite this, Haru didn’t seem like she was uneasy; she was still smiling while eating. There was a sparkle in her eyes that Ren hadn’t seen before.

Once they finished eating, the two of them walked along the beach while chatting about plants and gardening. Haru took care of the plant beds back at Shujin, it turned out, and she gave Ren advice when he mentioned the plant he was taking care of in his room. She was beaming as she gushed about gardening and the vegetables she was going to attempt to grow.

As the sun began to set, they found a bench to sit at and rest while watching the scenery.

“It’s so beautiful…” Haru sighed. “I lost track of time while we were out.”

“Did you have fun?” Ren asked.

Haru nodded. “Yes. I haven’t felt this relaxed in a long while.” She reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny charm that looked like a plumeria blossom. “Here. I don’t know if it’s something you’d like, but I want to thank you for the company.”

“Thank you.” Ren took the charm into his hand. It was made of silver, but it was colored like an actual plumeria flower. “You think you might try growing plumeria?”

“Now that you mentioned it, I did once grow a tropical fruit tree in my home,” Haru said. “Growing a tropical flower… it’d be different, but I would like to give it a try.”

The two lapsed into silence as the sun dipped lower on the horizon.

“It’s getting late,” Haru said, sounding reluctant. “We should head back.”

“We can stay a bit longer,” Ren said. “Just until the sun sets.”

Haru hummed. “Okay. Just a little longer.” She leaned back onto the bench.

They basked in the Hawaiian sunset, just the two of them. And as Ren looked over at Haru, who was relaxed and happy, he thought that he would like to see her again like this.


End file.
